Pursuing truth—alongside the littlest among us

A Reflection for Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

Find today’s readings here.

While an undergraduate student at the University of Notre Dame, I spent some time as an after school tutor at the South Bend Center for the Homeless. For about an hour each week, I would stop by after my classes and help the kids, who ranged in age from kindergarten to early high school, with their homework while they waited for their parents to return to the center following work or running errands. 

The first 15 minutes always started off strong. I was heavily caffeinated, the kids were still (somewhat) in learning mode, so we could knock out a couple of math questions or one reading comprehension worksheet together. But it would quickly devolve into “ask Jack anything but school-related stuff” time. 

“Why are there letters in math?” “Why does the letter Q look like that?” “Why are you wearing that shirt?” “Where do butterflies come from?”

In short, these kids, like many other kids, were seeking the truth. 

But what is truth? Not just the poignant question Pontius Pilate asks Jesus (John 18:38), this question is one that we all ask ourselves as we encounter this world in all its complexity. 

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that, finding ourselves between the Ascension (last Thursday) and Pentecost (this coming Sunday), the readings today point us to the core of truth: unity. In Acts, Paul speaks to the presbyters, or priests, at Ephesus about keeping the flock together, aware that some will try to divide. In John’s Gospel, Jesus prays that his followers will be consecrated in truth, and that “they may be one just as we are one” (John 17:11).

As we move towards the end of our Easter journey at Pentecost, we are reminded that it is the Holy Spirit who consecrates us in this truth and keeps us united as one. The Advocate promised by Jesus at his Ascension and given to the church at Pentecost is the one who keeps us in unity, and therefore in truth. 

Looking around at our world today, it’s not hard to find examples of those “wolves” preached by Paul to the church at Ephesus who seek to turn people away from unity and truth. Now more than ever, we as God’s children are called to rely on the Holy Spirit in our pursuit of truth, not only for life’s deepest questions, but even when we wonder about the peculiar shaping of letters in the alphabet. 

And in that pursuit of truth, despite all odds or signs to the contrary, we will find ourselves gathered together in love as one family in Christ, kept in God’s holy name.

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